What you have done here in the Canopy Tower makes me doubly proud of the Torrijos-Carter Treaty and its beneficial and just results. We wish you well as you introduce hundreds of visitors to the beauties of Panamá's natural resources.

Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States

Raúl,

With many thanks for a privileged evening and sights of some lovely birds

Sir David Attenborough

Raúl,

If I were giving out ecotourism awards, the hands-down winner for 2000 would be Raúl Arias de Para and Panamá's Canopy Tower. Of all the places I've visited in Central and South America in the past 20 years, only Chan Chich Lodge in Belize is as outstanding as the Canopy Tower. I'm proud that the first birding group to stay at Panamá's Canopy Tower was a VENT group.

Victor Emanuel, owner, Victor Emanuel Nature Tours (VENT)

Thanks to Raúl and Denise, the perfect host and hostess, for a wonderful time. The trip ran perfectly and the Tower makes an outstanding viewing platform for the forest canopy birds and animals.

David Sibley
author of the Sibley Guide to the Birds of North America and many other bird books

Raúl,

you have a truly wonderful place. I loved coming here during my stay in Panamá; for the solitude and peace of it, for the great food and for your company, always lighthearted.

Jon Lee Andersen, Author and Foreign Correspondent, The New Yorker

Raul, this experience is like no other in the world!

To wake up eye-to-eye with Howler monkeys; have coffee on top of the world with the toucans; watch the sun set over the Caribbean as the Red-lored Parrots go to roost; hear the jungle night come alive all around us, the Potoos, owls, kinkajous, and Great Tinamous. This is a mandatory waypoint in the life of any birder and I can't wait until my journeys bring me back. Thank you so much for making your dream come true.

John and Molly Fitzpatrick, Director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Raul,

what a wonderful week! Thank you for everything, for having the vision to build the Canopy Tower, for days filled with wonderful sights, for more birds and mammals than we could have imagined. I can not say what was the best part because everything was great.

Wendy Paulson

The Canopy Tower is a marvelous and imaginative birding facility. In addition to the birds to be seen, the hospitality, food, and thoughtful amenities are exceptional, the library notably replete with natural history volumes, the guides in residence outstanding. Visitors leave with a clear recognition of why the Canopy Tower is known as the first and foremost "birding center" in Panama.

John Rowlett, Founder, FIELD GUIDES

Raul,

I'm writing to you from the Canopy Tower, and I would give it a Certificate of World's-Most-Excellent! This is probably the most wonderful birding lodge that I have ever visited, in all my travels on all seven continents. Congratulations and thank you for your vision!

Kenn Kaufman, Author, Field Guide to Birds of North America and Kingbird Highway

Panama: El Valle's Canopy Lodge Extension Feb 06—11, 2010

Kevin Zimmer, VENT
As always, the El Valle area treated us to some great birds, beautiful accommodations, and some unexpected surprises. If there were a theme to this year's trip, it would have to be—nightbirds. Yep, that's right, nightbirds. As voted by the group, the three favorite birds of the tour were all nightbirds. It started the first afternoon, when we visited the property adjacent to the Canopy Lodge in search of a day-roosting Mottled Owl. The bird wasn't in its usual spot, so the lodge guide, Eliecer, left us to check some other places. In minutes he returned, and said he had found the owl. It was perched low and in plain sight, but facing straight away from us. One glance told me that something wasn't right—the bird was the wrong color brown. "Eliecer, this isn't right for Mottled Owl," I said. "It's more the color of a Crested Owl." Almost on cue, the bird swung its head towards us, revealing a white forehead and a couple of huge ear tufts. Crested Owl it was, and apparently the first local record in eight years, according to the senior lodge guides! The bird just sat there while "oohs" and "aahs" alternated with the steady clicking of camera shutters, and while the scope provided a reasonable chance of identifying any feather lice that might be lurking in those giant ear tufts. I believe it was a lifer for all of the participants, as well as for Eliecer, who was still grinning an hour later.